Waiting For Tomorrow

[1]
"S'cuse me!" she cried testily, trying to weave her away through the mass of soldiers that cluttered the drinking hall. She had spied a collection of abandoned plates across the room and there was no way she was letting them stay there!
"Excuse me!" she tried again, ducking under one of the blue arms of the knights. This was getting her no where.
Night had started to close in outside the tavern, hence the sudden influx in people but she wasn't complaining; time moved faster when she was busy, even if it was more stressful.
"Is that done with?" she asked over her shoulder to a few rather sombre looking soldiers, who had amassed quite the collection of tankards. Their reply was far from unusual, words seemed all but wasted on a glass collector, it seemed it was generally accepted that a grunt would suffice. "Thanks," she smiled as sweetly as possible in the light of their rudeness, and dropped the tankards onto her now rather well stacked tray.
"Why they can't stay up at the castle I'll never know..." she grumbled to herself; though she knew well enough why they all came down to the Common District - it was cheaper.
She dropped the tray on the end of the bar as continued on her quest for empty glasses through the sea of customers; perhaps not the epic quests that filled her mind after the sun had gone down, but it paid, which is more than could be said for the idle daydreams of a pot washer...
She spotted another empty plate in the corner and, with a sigh, she waded her way through the crowd once again. After being pummeled by the over excitable villagers she staggered out of the crowd and towards the table. She glanced down the figure sat in the chair “That done with?" she asked politely, pointing to the plate.
(Apologies if it's a bit long, ^_^;)

(Joining with Rayne)
A boy sat with his booted feet on top of the table as the girl approached. His white hooded shirt covering most of his face. The chin you could see was of a darker skin, which contrasted with the white of his shirt. When the serving girl had asked her question, he responded, looking up at the girl's face, his bright green eyes showing when he did. "It's empty, isn't it?" Though the comment itself was rude in it's directness, there was no rudeness in the boy's tone. It was simply stated, in a very short and simple manner.

Alysia raised an eyebrow, "Then I'll get rid of it for you," she smiled and leaned across the table. She couldn't help but find it a little strange to see a child in the tavern; it was unusual to see anyone younger than her during the week.
She seized the plate and added it to her ever-growing pile, she smiled down at the boy once again and turned back to the crowd only to be stopped in her tracks. "Um..." she paused, watching the chaos of the tavern intensify as one soldier split a drink over another. She looked back down to the boy, "Think I'll stay back here for a bit, I don't much fancy losing a limb trying to split those two up," she said tiredly and dropped into the chair across from him.
"If you don't mind that is," she laughed, realising how rude she sounded.

The boy watched as she started to walk off. She was just doing her job. No reason to get in her way or slow her down.
He was just starting to look at the patterns on the ceiling when she came back. When she sat down and asked if she could sit there, the boy responded simply, "Seats open. I wont stop you." He shrugged his shoulders, despite leaning back in his chair.
Was it just her imagination, or was the boy wearing a half smile as he watched the fools fighting over, whatever it was two drunks fought over. "I could probably split those two up for you if you wished, but I think it might be more fun to watch the two fools bash it out. None O my beez wax anyway, right?" He rested his hands behind his head, as he slouched horribly in the chair, his boots still on the table.

"Uhh..." She stammered, looking over her shoulder at the anarchy behind her. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt, I reckon we'll just stay here," she continued nervously: this boy wasn't quite what she was used to, perhaps a little too streetwise. How he could seem totally unfazed by the two soldiers beating each other senseless she would never know.
She ducked a stray tankard and shook her head in amusement, this was ridiculous.
"So..." she started, becoming aware of the awkward silence crawling over them, “I suppose I should introduce myself - I'm Alysia," she smiled, leaning on her elbow.

The boy just scuffled a little to avoid a cup went flying by him. "I'm Rayne. Nice to meet you." He smiled. "This place is kinda busy tonight, isn't it?" Was it just your imagination, or did this kids voice sound a little too high pitched for a boy? Maybe not... "Is it always like this Alice? You don't mind me calling you that, do you?"
(Presumptuous of her, huh?)

She glanced over her shoulder at the ever-increasing ruckus behind her, "Busy doesn't even come close," she sighed, turning back to the boy. "Alice is fine, I'm really a fan of "Alysia" it's a bit posh-sounding if you know what I mean," She smiled and tried to relax a little more.
"Rayne's a pretty name, it beats Alysia anyway," she continued vaguely until she realised the implication of her words. She felt all of her insides tense with embarrassment "I mean...oh that's embarrassing, I'm sorry!" she cringed when she realised she had just essentially called this boy 'pretty'.
She had always been famous, or perhaps infamous, for her stunning lack of subtly. "Well, it is an unusual name for a boy, but nice none the less," she mumbled, making a helpless attempt at a recovery, silently wishing she could walk away from this conversation and start again.

Rayne winced when she called her name as pretty. "I don't think it's a pretty name. Your name is a pretty name. Mine is just... a name." She didn't say any comment on it being a girls name or not. "Well. I only came in for some grub... but these clouts wanna fight." She stood up finally, sliding her chair back. "When do the guards normally come in to settle this? It's taken them too long.
After a few more moments of watching, Rayne placed two fingers into her mouth and made a shrill screech of a whistle. The sound of which easily overtook the noise of the fighting.

Alysia winced at the ear-piercing noise, "Well seeing as most of Phedailin probably heard that..." she complained rubbing her ear with her finger.”They'll probably turn up soon," she muttered.
She glanced around the faces in the now silent tavern; the dual emotions of shock and anger had seized their faces, and that was never good news. She had seen things get pretty ugly before, and tonight seemed determined to add itself to her list. She heard Rayne’s chair scrape along the floorboards, this didn’t look good either.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked apprehensively, her gaze turning back to the terrifyingly steadfast youth beside her.

Rayne stood up, looking at most of the crowd. "Are you all so sure ya want to continue with this waste of time? Either you can stop now, go outside and continue, or have the guards lock the lot of ya up for fighten." She inched her body closer to the spear she had proped up next to her chair. If any of the clouts decided to make this into a stupid and pointless fight, she was going to show them what the butt end of the spear could do.
As Alysia mentioned if this was a good idea, Rayne only thought that it seemed like it at the time. It wasn't looking to be such a good idea now, with so many adult men looking at her. If things got too interesting, she thankfully was next to a window. "Alysia? Stand by the window, just in case..." She whispered to her new friend. There was no reason for her to get hurt while doing her job. The window would make for an escape for her if needed, as Rayne blocked the way for what time she could. If she was lucky, she could leave the same way... if not... best not to think of that.

Alysia edged nervously towards the window, still painfully uncertain of how this situation was going to end. The tension seemed to radiate around the room, she just knew this was going to get ugly.
The impulsive half of her desperately wanted to grab a barstool and give Rayne a hand, alas the sensible half of her brain told her this was foolish and would result in either death or unemployment, or both...
She spied the large pile of cutlery next to her arm, stacked haphazardly on top of the plates. She scanned the room again; none of them looked like they were going to back down anytime soon. She grazed her hand of the pile, clutching the handle of a knife with her thumb and dragging it off the pile. "Alright..." she muttered, nudging the knife through the string of her apron and looking to Rayne again.

Rayne took a few steps back, making sure that the older Alysia would remain safely behind him. (Gonna refer to Rayne as Him for now, as you think she is a boy, which she doesn't mind.) "Why don't we all forget this whole thing and sit back down. I'm sure if the guards come in and not see any fighting, no one would get into any trouble..."
He was holding his spear behind his back now, just incase he had to use it. From the looks of the crowd, they didn't seem to be backing down. And all he did was whistle. What idiots. What a waste of his time.

The crowd prickled as another wave of tension rattled across them. At least they had stopped fighting, though perhaps that was not quite such a reassuring thought: Alysia had seen this before, the calm before the storm as it were...
One of the previously engaged soldiers stepped out of the line, wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "Perhaps you should've thought about that before you opened your mouth...boy," he sneered, bearing down on Rayne with a particularly smug grin on his face. Alysia winced and touched the knife in her pocket again.

Rayne stood his ground, but kept the table between them. Hopefully unseen by the giant soldier, he had his hands placed on the underside of the table, ready to throw it at the man if need be. "I didn't want no trouble. I just wanted to eat, and drink my food in peace. If I can't have that, then I'll just leave." This was becoming more and more pointless. This man wasn't listening to him. The man probably considered him nothing more an over bolstious boy. However, the way the boy stood did indicate he had at least some training with fighting, and seemed fairly strong for his young age.

"Well you shouldn'ta interrupted then, if you weren't interested in fightin'" the man sneered, cracking his knuckles in the palm of his hand. "A lad like you should learn to keep his tongue in his head, perhaps we take a little walk outside, see if I can't teach you some manners..." he continued, a particularly malicious smile creeping its way onto his face.
Before either party had any time to react, one of the wooden barstool came screaming through the air and collided with the back of the man’s head. The entire tavern snapped around to stare at the peculiar scene: a skinny blond girl, holding a bar stool by the legs above her head. Alysia looked down to Rayne, who seemed rather surprised by the sheer force the other had managed to muster "Remind me again why I just did that," Alysia squeaked peering over the table at the unconscious man .
[1]

Rayne flipped the table anyway, knowing that the other brawlers will be upon them soon. He grabbed his spear and faced one side of the overturned table. "Leave. Now. I'll follow in a moment." The table should only let the brawlers get to them from one side. Holding his wooden spear butt end to the opening, Rayne waited for the brawlers to come. "What are you still standing here for? Get out the window, before things get rough..."

Alysia glared at him across the table. "Are you crazy?! I'm not leaving you here!" she cried, hurling the stool into the onslaught of attackers.
This was probably really unwise; fighting vast numbers of angry drunkards was never recommended but even though her job hung on the line if her boss came back in, she couldn't really leave Rayne fend for himself.
"and don't argue!" she warned him, kicking another in the chest.
[Apologies for the lateness...I've just moved into Uni ^_^;)

Rayne glared at her, as he kicked someone in the shin. "I said leave!" He turned around and starts to try and force her out the window. "I have no intentions of..." Suddenly his body went slack on her side as he lost sense of where he was. The room seemed to spin, as he found himself on the floor near Alysia. his vision felt blurry and he could no longer think as quickly as he was use to. Thought came slowly, as so did his movements.
(Sorry about the wait. Life and stuff. And as a visual, he was trying to push her out the window and to safety, and got hit in the back of the head. He slouched over her and then slid to the floor in his daze, unable to really move.)

(It's cool, don't worry )
"Rayne!" Alysia wailed and dropped down to his level, narrowly avoiding a chair leg to the face. "I told you not to argue!" she continued helplessly, turning the boy onto his back. "Oh Rayne, Wake up!!" she cried as the chaos raged around her. This was getting ridiculous - there was no way she could handle this on her own and as much as she hated asking for help, it was necessary. "Runnin' outta options now aren't ya little lady?" one of the men sneered above her...that's what they thought! She smiled sweetly at them before screaming "Chef!!!" at the top of her lungs; now they were for it.
From out of the kitchen came a tremendous roar as the door swung open. The particularly large figure of 'Chef' stomped into the room and into completely silence. "Anybody got a problem?" he asked levelly, looking down at the ridiculously clichéd rolling pin in his left hand. A satisfied grin drifted onto his face as the attackers moved quietly out of the door. He glanced over to Alysia and shook his head in amusement, "What am I gonna do with you?!" he scolded playfully and sloped back into the kitchen. Problem solved.
Her attention turned back to Rayne, she couldn't just leave him unconscious under the table, something had to be done. She sighed and lifted him awkwardly onto her back –thankfully he didn't weight too much. Making her way across the bar, her mind turned to more pressing thoughts – she really hoped Rayne would recover, on the face of it, the wound seemed a fairly standard 'bump to the head'. She could only hope it was that superficial. She climbed the stairs to her quarters and forced the door open with her foot – Rayne was made of stern stuff, he'd make it.
She dropped him on the bed, taking one last look at lump on the back of his head, it was looking better already, "See you in the morning," she smiled and closed the door behind her.
(Sorry for such a long post, I’m trying to get us to a place where we can step it up a bit )

(Sorry. Didn't want to log in just to log out... but it is me.)
Rayne tried to make sense of what happened, as someone carried the boy up something. He knew he was going up from the feel of things, but couldn't bring himself to move his body. He passed between the world of being awake to the world of being asleep, and seemed to be someplace in between. Only vaguely aware of what was happening.
Some hours latter, Rayne finally awoke. He bolted upright in his bed, only to moan and grab the back of his head. Where he touched, he got a sharp pain from. "Ow..." He whispered. The room was too dark to see if there was blood on his hand, but it didn't feel wet. Feelings can be false though, and wouldn't be the first time he had bled without realizing it. He tried to look around, but the world around him was dark, and what shadows he saw seemed to blur as he moved his head. Eventually, he gave up and went back down, his head hurting for some reason. The events from before where a blur in his mind, unrecognizable events and thoughts.
Laying his head back down onto the pillow, he tried to look around, observe his surroundings from the pillow. Though it didn't blur as he wasn't moving, he still couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. It was just too dark. Maybe he was taken prisoner? What an annoyance that would be...

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